|
EXECUTION
Posted: 06 Sep 2006 06:08 AM |
Quickly and efficiently they chained her feet, allowing just enough leeway for her to walk, if at a slight hobble, then bound her arms behind her back and, well aware of her capabilities, gagged her.
While spectators and friends, perhaps in some cases enemies debated her fate while lingering within Ferein the Elves left the Hall of Decision by a side door, Dana led closely, and none too gently by two of their number, while to the forward and rear parties of archers and warriors guarded against any attempt at a last minute rescue.
Swiftly now they passed through central Ferein and along the walkway to the entrance, Dana at times half carried as she struggled to keep her footing.
Then through the Mystic Wood into Latonei, where but a short time ago the crime had been committed, the grass and undergrowth still in places burned and showing where the attack had taken place.
The party awaiting her was not large, just enough with Nariel among them to bear witness to the execution.
All were silent, the only sound coming from the nightlife in the forest, no Elf made a sound, nor for that matter did the prisoner.
For a few moments all was still, until at last Nariel gave a nod and Dana was dragged forward and pushed into a kneeling position.
The Elf approached and lifted the warblade, a weapon calculated to carry out the task swiftly and at the same time cauterise any wound it caused.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
An hour or so later the small party walked swiftly yet quietly through the Gladden Fields and stopped at the edge of M’Gok Tukar pass, gently lying at their feet the larger bundle that they carried and placing upon it the smaller, with a parchment which read:
To Chief Boragask from the Council of Ferein
Greetings
We return your subject as warning of what fate awaits those who trifle with the security of our realm.
While it cannot be proved, your part in this business is nevertheless known.
The Realm of Ferein desires conflict with none, no matter their race nor beliefs, we will however defend what is ours and our own in whatever way seems fit.
Ignore these words at your own peril.
Princess Sairalindë Nénharma |
ELVES! |
|
  |
|
|
Re: EXECUTION
Posted: 06 Sep 2006 08:13 AM |
Boragask looked up, the note having been read to him by a scribe.
For a moment, he paused wordlessly, then he suddenly lunged foward, in one movement seizing his mighty axe and then taking it to the body before him. A almighty rage, Gruin's rage, pulsed behind his eyes. He was angry with the Elves, for doing this to one of his subjects. He was angry with himself, for letting the pair leave. He was angry with Ophelia, for not sharing her clanmate's fate. Most of all, he was angry with Dana, for getting caught. Angry with her for implicating him. She had been told not to get caught!
Four swings of his axe later, he paused above the mutilated mess, and glared at the scribe.
"The other is dead to us as well." He stated simply in Orcish.
A short time later, Dana's head appeared on a pole outside of M'Gok Tukar. |
|
|
|
|
|
Re: EXECUTION
Posted: 06 Sep 2006 09:38 AM |
He had searched all of Ferein, to no avail, having been shadowed for part of his search by Holace, who he now saw as no more than a scheming creep. His tired feet finally took him to M'Gok Tukar. If the elves had decency, they'd return her to her homeland, he surmised, and he had to see her laid to rest. He owed her that.
The sight that greeted him brought vomit to his throat and tears to his eyes. When he had composed himself, he called upon Spanky, alter ego to Dana's Sparky, to knock down the pole, before cradling the misshapen, bloodless head in his arms, closing her eyes and allowing his tears to fall freely to her matted and bloody hair. After what may have been hours, he wrapped it slowly in a bandage and gently laid it on the top of his pack. A proper, honorable burial would come.
First would come vengeance. He had made an offer to the elves, an offer they had rejected. Now, as fury gripped him, he turned his offer into a vow. To himself.
[Edit: This post is now a duplicate of what he posted to his journal. I couldn't make the link work] |
|
|
|
|
|
Re: EXECUTION
Posted: 06 Sep 2006 11:01 AM |
Caddo – brooding at the family fire – sat cross-legged and hugely immobile.
His shoulders slumped creating a line of bare flesh that extended from the round crown of his head to the flowstone floor of the chamber. His three wives had left the fire to labor in common, turning the skins he had gathered into tanned hides. The young ones went away with them, some carried, some to lend their hands to useful tasks, and some to loll about like wastrels.
A young male from another family tended the fire in place of his wives while the wife of another shaved his scalp with a piece of sawgrass, leaving a fringe and a scalplock tied neatly with chord. With her nails she removed parasites from his ears and lifted his rolls to search for more. Caddo did not acknowledge her.
The young male seated himself and aped Caddo’s serious expression. He could not however maintain the older male’s stillness. “What does this mean?” the young male asked.
Caddo’s eyes, big and glossy black reflected the hot red coals.
“She was strong,” the younger male intoned. “Chosen was Dana. We all saw that she was.”
Another male approached Caddo’s family fire and seated himself, matching Caddo’s thoughtful posture.
“What do we do?” asked the younger male into the air. Discontentedly he snapped a dry branch and brought flame to the hearth.
In a short while another came and was seated, followed by one of his daughters who sat behind him and started combing his hair with her teeth to remove lice.
Before long many men from the clan had gathered to sit. There was little talk. Caddo, though big, was not the biggest of his clan. The men gathered for company and to consider the consequences of these events.
“Two daughters Tukar has lost.”
“Dana was more orclun than the other.”
“Borogask has left the head to be gnawed by wolves and wild animals. He shames us.”
“Dana shames us by her weakness.”
“The Mountain King is now our enemy. Karkus has no wife at M’Gok Tukar.”
“They say they know it was Borogask’s will. Dana would never tell this. Who told? Who?”
All opinion being shared – and all opinion being equal – the men gradually dispersed following the daily rhythm of hunter-gatherer life. |
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about dying."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means lying in the ground with dirt on your face and holding your breath forever."
-Burt Reynolds, "The End" |
|
|
|
|
Re: EXECUTION
Posted: 06 Sep 2006 05:06 PM |
Dat an act of war dat is..
Guk tell dem Mistah Leg o Less admit him kill der elvys fer exilin im.
Guk kno im use magik stuff ..
guk kno dat dey knew dat him take ovur control of der elimuntal..
dem nut wan blame nuffer elvy fer tha crime...
dem blame miss offillia and dana to cuvvur up der crime of Leg o Less.
Guk gave warnin.
Guk gave chance to do rite fing.
Rewurd of 200000 gold was nut given to guk coz dem nut wanna hear troof of who did wat.
Guk oficuly Bashin Mad.
Any tree rat givin mi roodnuss from now on Guk not excuse and bash.
Dat all guk got say on dis mattur at dis time.
Signed
X
Transcribed by an itinerant scribe in the broken mask sallon on behalf of a very angry half orc with a big axe. |
Love 'n' light
Wings |
|
|
|